"Although I speak from my own experience, I feel that no one has the right to impose his or her beliefs on another person. I will not propose to you that my way is best. The decision is up to you. If you find some point which may be suitable for you, then you can carry out experiments for yourself. If you find that it is off no use, then you can discard it." Dalai Lama...

Wednesday, 30 September 2009

Potter mania.No not that one! The other one:-)

A few weeks ago, Milly found three Beatrix Potter videos in the charity shop for 20p each! A couple of nights prior to finding them she had asked Alan to read some of the stories again from her boxed set we bought her many years ago. We had talked for quite some time about visiting Hilltop (We had taken out a home educating family yearly pass to National trust properties when we visited Fountains Abbey in Ripon and haven’t used it yet.) seemed as good a time as any to do it.We decided it would be nice to visit the World of Beatrix Potter while we were in the area. The plan was to go to Bowness first and take the Car ferry over to save a twisty drive round the lake. I checked out all the details, opening times etc. I rang Hilltop to give them the seven days notice required as a Home ed member (due to a significantly reduced rate can only go with advance notice and in school hours, no school holiday or weekends) Alan booked a day off work as it was too far for me to drive.

Milly was looking forward to going, but on the two nights before we were to go she had trouble sleeping. She had been on two very long hikes with Al and Beauty on both days but was unsettled and was up till 11 and not asleep before 12 and then woke up quite a few times during the night.In hindsight probably coming down with something.So come the morning we had planned to go she was not on top form:-( Journeys longer than 45 minutes are difficult for her; she feels sick and add tiredness in to the mix and it becomes even harder.She will fight sleeping in the car(or anywhere for that matter)even when she is exhausted .

To cut a long story short we got to Bowness and not knowing where we were going, ended up missing the ferry turn off TWICE, Then we finally made it only to find the Ferry which runs all year round except in adverse weather conditions was closed,there was hardly a breeze!!! Then the plan we had had to have our picnic near the water before boarding was foiled when we realised we would have to pay £5 to park!! We were all hungry and pretty pissed off and Milly was feeling very inflexible! We talked about the passenger ferry's that were running but we didn't know how far from the terminal Hilltop was and Milly wasn't keen on that one as it would make her sicker than the car one!She had been looking forward to getting out of the car and being near the water and we were just dreading going back round to try and find a park near the lake as it was madness, so busy, Would really hate to see it in high season.

When we finally found a parking space Milly was quite vocal about her disappointment and decided it was horrible day, you get the picture! I went to the boot to get her walking boots and could quite easily have let rip. She was being so unreasonable.I was feeling annoyed that she was tired and had not gone to bed early.I could hear the negative voices in my head of people saying "oh well it's all well and good letting children choose when to go to bed but then this is what you end up with!"I knew it was illogical because even if I had "made" her go to bed at a set bedtime I could not have made her sleep!!

I choose to breathe deeply and then went round to her. She was angry and I could see it would only get worse. I asked if she would like a big hug, I know she wasn’t expecting that:-) She reached out, we hugged, I empathised with how she was feeling, she melted into me, and I could feel the anger ebbing away. I showed her a takeaway hut nearby and the fact that we could still sit out near the water for a picnic and even better, there was somewhere to get a cold drink. So not a great start, but we had a lovely time in The World of Beatrix Potter.Milly was around 3 the last time we went and it had been extended and had a new garden section.It had lost a very boring film I remembered from last time and had some interactive boards near the exhibits with details about the characters and stories.Lots of info about Beatrix and her life.We all found it enchanting and very atmospheric. We decided the journey around the lake to Hilltop was not an option and we would come back another time.Now I obviously had to do a slideshow, I know, bear with me I am sure I will tire of them soon.. Practise makes perfect don’t they say.? Any how if your not a Beatrix Potter fan best to miss the next post.

I had to do them on separate ones because I couldn’t upload from blogger so took it from you tube. I got the slideshow over but all the text on the post disappeared!!! So I have re written this. Can I just point out there is no spell check on the new posting layout thingy. Not good ,I really need it ,especially late at night when the few brain cells that seem to be firing at the moment take a holiday as well.

1 comment:

We spent a couple days in the Lake District last month and visited Hill Top. I must say, seeing your You Tube vid, that I wish we'd gone to the Beatrix Potter World instead - looks fabulous. Glad your day turned out good in the end.

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We are on a journey....

After taking our daughter out of school we decided on an autonomous approach and set off full of hope. The journey so far has not always been easy - but it has been worth it. We have our happy, funny, loving daughter back again. It also seems possible this unconventional way of living will change our lives for ever. Would you like to join us on the journey as we grow and learn more about unschooling and what it means for us?

Reclaiming our life.

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When I set about creating this blog The title and blog description just came to me one night.It simply flowed without thought at all.Many months later I discovered John Holt and this quote!!

"A life worth living and work worth doing - that is what I want for all children." - John Holt.

This is me.....

There comes a time when you have to stand up and shout: This is me damn it! I look the way I look, think the way I think, feel the way I feel, love the way I love! I am a whole complex package. Take me... or leave me. Accept me - or walk away! Do not try to make me feel like less of a person, just because I don't fit your idea of who I should be and don't try to change me to fit your mold. If I need to change, I alone will make that decision.When you are strong enough to love yourself 100%, good and bad - you will be amazed at the opportunities that life presents you.” Stacey Charter.

Kindness

"This is my simple religion.There is no need for temples; no need for complicatedphilosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness." The Dalai Lama.

Karma...

“How people treat you is their karma; how you react is yours.” Wayne Dyer

A collection of quotes....

Do not ask that your kids live up to your expectations. Let your kids be who they are, and your expectations will be in breathless pursuit... Robert Brault.

'You can't give what you don't have,' some people say, and if you want your children to give generosity and kindness and patience to others, you should give them so much they're overflowing with it. ** —Sandra Dodd

Why we Home educate

( Slightly edited from a blog post I did when we started out) In the end the actual decision to take Emily out only took a matter of days but before that it had been around a year and a half of talking about ti and reading books, Free range education by Terri Dowty, Educating your child at home by Jane Lowe and Alan Thomas were two that had a real impact for different reasons. Free range education has lots of examples of real life home educators and I think I can say that it was this one that convinced me the most that we could do it.We are two very average people ,neither of us left school with many qualifications, we went on to do quite well in our chosen professions and had no need to think about the education system at all until Emily came along.I knew about home education and when Emily was born considered it as an optionbut always felt my lack of education would be a problem and that I wouldn't be capable of providing her with what she would need.Looking back with hindsight it is easy to see how wrong I was!!

School never really suited Emily......After the nursery year at a very highly rated, high achieving school we knew that particular School wasn't for us and took her out. We enrolled her in a lovely village school with only 70 children in the whole school .The ethos of the school was totally different, the children didn't wear uniforms and there was much more emphasis on the children being individuals.The head was a sensitive and principled man who wanted the best for the children. We thought we had struck gold.Over the reception and year 1 Emily gained confidence and really started to bloom. It was at this time she was diagnosed with dyspraxia( we had had to go down the diagnosis route as our observations of Emily's difficulties were not enough to enable the teachers to tailor things so she was helped and given less work in class) but she managed quite well in the more relaxed play orientated early years.Year 2 with more emphasis on academic activities got progressively harder for her. She is very sensitive and it wasn't just the academic side it was the embarassment of having to put her hand up for the toilet,seeing others being told off and worrying in case she did something wrong and got the same treatment, panicking because she couldn't do the work and the teacher never had time to sit with her (alot of this did not come out until she had left school) her behaviour at home became worse and worse she was so angry and obviously stressed . At this time we began to seriously consider taking her out but held back because of my lack of confidence in my ability to provide her with an adequate education ,my health being so poor was also a major stumbling block.

Then in year three it became blatantly obvious that something needed to change .She was struggling on all levels and we couldn't allow the school system to damage our daughter anymore.She became ill with a bug that was doing the rounds and she was off for two weeks , during that time I had a conversation with a friend who home educates her two children and I was so upset I couldn't make a decision and she said just go with whats in your heart and that really helped me to shift my thinking and stop worrying about what I couldn't give her and focus on what I could give her.

We never sent her back.I still get emotional when I think of that time , the look on Emily's face when we told her she would never have to go back to school was priceless,the immense sense of relief that we were off the treadmill of school life and the excitement of the time ahead and to be honest the fear of the unknown......

So here we are four years on and a lot of reading and researching later I feel comfortable with what we are doing . The changes that have happened so far have been helped along the way by the many wonderful blogs out there.They are so varied and there are so many different approaches , I have found ones that I can identify with and have read a lot of archive material that has been written in each and found answers to so many of the questions I have had that they have helped me to sort out what will work best for us .As much as I wish we had done this earlier and saved Emily from the distress that she went through I do believe things happen for a reason and that the time was right for us to take her out and that looking on the bright side one of the benefits is that at least she has had a taste of school and now we all know without a doubt that it is not for us !!!!

It is very liberating to be making decisions based on what works best for us as a family and not what society expects.

About Me

Life really did begin for me at 40! 39 to be precise, when Emily was born ;-).I have been married very happily for 25 years to Alan.I am gradually recovering from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome after 12 years and we are home educating our Twelve year old daughter Emily.Whole life Unschooling is the label I would use to help others understand the way we home educate.In practice that means that Emily has free choice to do what she finds interesting at any given time.We believe that learning happens all the time,in her own way and at her own pace and we aim to provide her with things that are interesting and fun for her to do,but accept if she chooses not to do them.We have moved away from set bedtimes and restrictions on food.With our guidance she is learning to listen to her body.Still working on it and by no means "there" yet but enjoying the journey and the unexpected benefit has been the growth Alan and I have gone through having to challenge our thinking about educational/parenting methods.It's all good and getting better by the day.

Home ed group today.We actually managed to get to it this week!! It has been AGES since we made it to a meet up with the group - various rea...

"We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves."Buddha

I found this at the bottom of my Blog and decided I like it so much it needed to be somewhere I can see it daily ;-))Life shouldn't be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in, broadside, thouroughly used up, totally worn out and loudly shouting, 'WOW'.... Beth Moore.

petal

created for me by milly

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A few qoutes I like....

Life shouldn't be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in, broadside, thouroughly used up, totally worn out and loudly shouting, 'WOW'.... Beth Moore

The perpetual testing of public school children is like a gardener constantly pulling his plants up by the roots to see if they are growing....(unknown)

Children require guidance and sympathy far more than instuction...Helen Kellers teacher

I hear and I forget I see and I remember I do and I understand...Confusious